Advisors

Jerry Hallmark is an energy technologies expert who has discovered and commercialized numerous battery technologies. At Motorola, he sourced, tested, qualified and launched over 25 different custom lithium-ion cells mobile devices, including the RAZR, Moto X, several Droids and Moto Z. He also led the Motorola power management team. Jerry earned an M.S. in electrical engineering (solid state devices) from Arizona State University and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Florida. He holds 31 patents, has given numerous presentations at industry conferences, and served as president of the U.S. Fuel Cell Council.

Steve Megli is vice president of Intel’s Strategic Transactions Group, responsible for effective integration of new investments. He joined Intel in 1987 and has progressed through a series of management roles with increased responsibilities in process engineering, assembly, test, and wafer fab management. He has been in charge of factory start-ups and operations in the U.S., Philippines, Ireland, Israel, Vietnam, China, Costa Rica, and Malaysia, managing several thousand engineers and multibillion dollar budgets. Steve earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering and a M.S. in materials science from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Greg Reichow is a partner at Eclipse Ventures, LLC. He has spent his career building and leading teams to help scale technically complex products from initial concept to high-volume production. Most recently, he was vice president of production at Tesla Motors, where he worked from 2011 to 2016. Prior to Tesla, he was the senior vice president of operations at SunPower from 2003 to 2011. Earlier in his career, he held various roles in manufacturing and quality in the semiconductor industry. Greg earned a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Venkat is a Staff Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) and Deputy Director of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR, the battery “Hub”). His research interest is in developing next-generation batteries for use in vehicle and grid applications. He and his research group develop continuum-based models for battery materials and combine them with experimental characterization to help design new materials, electrodes, and devices. Venkat joined the scientific staff at LBNL in 2003 after postdoctoral studies at the University of California, Berkeley and Pennsylvania State University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 2000.

James C. Stevens was the first Distinguished Fellow at The DOW Chemical Company, where he retired in 2015. He is responsible for the discovery and commercialization of several significant families of polymers in widespread commercialization today, and he led development efforts of photovoltaic materials based on abundant earth elements prior to his retirement. Jim earned his B.A. in chemistry from The College of Wooster and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Ohio State University. He is an inventor on 100 issued U.S. patents and over 1,100 foreign patents, has 18 journal publications, and is the author of one book and editor of a second.